The Ends of the Earth
by DG85
Summary: It's time for the Scorpios to unite around Anna in her time of need.  No Lab Explosion
1. Chapter 1

Robin Scorpio was feeling satisfied and content, her mother had shown up for Valentine's Day. She may be a grown woman now with a family of her own, but there was still a certain part of her that only her parents, most especially her mother, could fill. She was pulled out of her reverie by the eerie feeling that something was off. She noticed her mother did not seem to be following Emma's joyous chatter. Her mother was to say the least unconventional, but never, not even during her own childhood had she been inattentive. Anna had always made sure that when she was home Robin was the center of her universe and she extended the same love and devotion to Emma. Robin also noticed her mother's stiff movements and how hard she was trying to pay attention. It could only be one thing. She must have been injured on her last mission. Anna had always down played her own pain to not burden or scare those around her, but years of being her daughter had taught Robin to read her like a book, and her mother was definitely in pain. Between her stubbornness and her pain tolerance there was no telling just how severe it was, but Robin knew it was there and planned to call her out on it as soon as she could find a way to distract Emma. Just as she was about to suggest Emma go and play, she noticed her mother's rapid eye movements and before she could react her mother was on the ground having a grand mal. She froze. All she could see was her mother on the ground convulsing with a look of utter terror in her eyes. Terror? That was an emotion she had never actually seen in her mother and it frightened her even more than the seizure itself. Weren't patients supposed to lose consciousness during a seizure of this magnitude? For once could her mother play by the book? She wanted so badly to comfort her just as her mother had for her so many times, but she couldn't make her body respond. She could hear Emma's frantic cries and Patrick yelling at her to call 911, but she just couldn't move.

Robin wasn't sure how, but the next thing she knew she was at General Hospital sitting in a cold, hard waiting room chair for an update on her mother's condition. It was Bobbie that finally snapped her out of her trance.

"Robin, sweetheart, your mom is going to be just fine."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. Don't forget that I was here during Robert and Anna's heyday. I have tended to your mother more times than I can count. I have seen her in worse shape that she is right now, and each and every time I've watched her beat the odds. Why don't you go lie down in an on-call room and I'll go get you as soon as Patrick has any news."

Robin didn't want to leave. It felt wrong somehow. Her mother never left her or her father for that matter. During her DIC crisis after Emma's birth, every time Robin had opened her eyes she had been met with the site of her mother. When her father had been fighting colon cancer, her mother came running the moment she called her and didn't leave his side to so much as eat. She'd lived in that room until he was better, eating cafeteria food that the nurses would take to her and sleeping in the chair by his bed. Yet neither one of them could seem to do the same for her. Robert had left her with nothing but a note, and today as she was convulsing on Robin's own floor, Robin hadn't been able to pull it together long enough to reassure her much less take care of her. It was wrong and it would stop now. Instead of listening to Bobbie's suggestion to rest, Robin pulled out her cell phone and started dialing. He miraculously picked up on the third ring.

"Dad? It's Mommy."


	2. Chapter 2

It had been hours. Robin had been sitting, waiting for word on her mother, for any update for hours. She felt like she was going to lose her mind. She wasn't used to this kind of fear. Sure she'd waited on news on both of her parents plenty of times, and listened to the devastating untruth twenty years ago, but now she knew too much. As a child, her parents had always take the approach of age appropriate honesty. Never, "Mommy's in critical condition. Mommy may not make it through the night. Mommy's in a coma." Always, "Mommy's in the hospital. Mommy's sick. Mommy's sleeping so she can feel better." The truth but definitely in child friendly lingo. The problem was she was no longer a child. There was no longer any hiding the gory realities of the truth from her. On top of which she was a doctor now, she fully grasped the severity of what was happening. If they couldn't stop the convulsions, they were looking at permanent brain damage and death. The human body was simply not built to withstand prolonged trauma of that degree. Oh how she wished she didn't "get" it, that she could go back to the days when everything was still a game. She couldn't take it anymore. She needed to see her mother.

"Robin."

"How is she?" Patrick, as always, coming through just in the nick of time, and with that thought she realized just how right her mother had been at in the Maarkham Islands. She had fallen in love with her father.

"It's bad, Robin. The seizure was caused by severe cerebral swelling. I've never seen swelling to this degree. I'm trying to understand why your aunt didn't deal with this when she found your mother. How can a physician not know that a cranial injury of that magnitude needs to be dealt with immediately? I'm going to go my best, but it's twenty years of damage."

"Surgery?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Within the week. It's urgent we reduce the swelling, but she's much too weak right now. I have her on phenobarbitol right now and she's resting comfortably. My hope is that if we can avoid another seizure, she'll have time to regain her strength and increase her odds of coming out of surgery."

"Can I see her?"

"Of course." Robin followed him to her mother's room in a state of disconnect. He was her husband, and she knew he was ready to fight like a lion for her mother's life not only for her and Emma, but also because she knew he sincerely loved her mother, but she couldn't _feel_ him. The only thing she could feel was the intense and burning need to reconnect with her mother. She opened the door and was once again frozen. She heard Patrick mention he was headed to radiology to take another look at her mother's MRI results, but she heard him as though underwater. The only clear sound was the steady beeping of the heart monitor. The only clear sight was her mother sleeping in a sea of tubes. She couldn't help but blame herself. Alexandra Devane was a world class physician. Robin had no doubt that she knew how severe her sister's head injury was when she was under her care. She could say with absolute certainty that her aunt had spent the last ten years arguing with her mother about her treatment plan. She was also certain that more than anything she herself had kept her mother from seeking treatment. Robin was her mother's everything. Robin and her guilt for everything she hadn't been able to do for her over the years. There was absolutely no way that her mother was going to "burden" her with her illness or let it take her out of commission. She would be damned if she wasn't there to ride in to her little girl's rescue at a moment's notice.

"Mom, why are you so stubborn? Why can't you accept that I'm a big girl now? I can deal with my own problems now. The only thing I can't deal with is losing you. I've done it once, and I can't do it again. I just can't Mommy. I can't" She sat there holding her mother's hand and fervently praying for her mother to come out of this one just like she had come out of so many tough spots before.

Robert Scorpio was a haunted man. A man haunted by failures. He never had quite gotten things right. It would have been different if the failure had been just been to himself, but somehow someone else had always borne the brunt of his screw ups. Robin and Anna were most often the collateral damage, but more so Anna. She took her role of mother seriously and had created a shield around Robin. As far as Anna was concerned, Robert was Robin's father and therefore should remain her hero. He was always the good guy to her bad guy; the moral, upstanding, man of integrity that hadn't been able to deal with her grey areas, with her belief that sometimes, just sometimes the ends did indeed justify the means. She never spoke of the fact that she'd been a mere child when their love affair had started. She never spoke about how nine times out of ten her ends had been him and their daughter and her need to keep them safe and happy. Sure they bickered, sure she bitched and moaned, but when it came to the nitty, gritty she took it like a man and made sure Robert's image in his daughter's eyes was untouched, but their daughter was most definitely her mother's daughter. Nothing got past that one. He still remembered the tongue lashing he'd received from his daughter for stealing out of General Hospital like a bandit without Anna hurting her once again. He knew that Anna had defended him and told Robin that he needed to do this on his own, but he also knew that Anna had known better that more than sparing her it had been sparing his pride the defeat of having the love of his life see him in his weakest moments, and he was certain Robin knew the same. Anna always took care of them, and this was the one way they'd taken care of her over the years. No matter what they'd allowed her to continue believing that Robin had no idea just how big of a louse her father could be at times. They allowed her to believe that her ruse including her distracting jabs at him had done their job. If only he'd done his share, may be things would be different now. He wondered if in all the times he hadn't come through there was a single time that would have changed what was now going on. He was no fool whatever it was, it was bad. Robin was an adult. Her parents were no longer her Mommy and Daddy even if he did occasionally get a Daddy out of her. The moment she'd said, "It's Mommy," he'd known and his battle with the "what if's" of life had begun. May be if he'd come to her in Canada; he'd have realized the severity of her injuries and made sure she received proper medical care immediately even if it meant taking on the WSB. May be if he'd revealed himself in Pine Valley as he watched her and Robin reunite; he'd have convinced her to let her sister care for her without fighting it. May be if he'd come to her when she lost Leora; she'd have confided in him that she was still having headaches. May be if he hadn't stolen away in the night almost four years ago; he'd have picked up on the fact that her episodes were once again occurring with frightening frequency and severity. May be if he'd realized that Wonder Woman was human; she wouldn't be fighting for her life right now. He just hoped that she and Robin both knew he was an idiot. If he'd ever truly seen things for what they were, he would have been there for her, for them both. If he'd known, he would have been there. If he weren't such an arrogant fool, he'd have saved her. If this damned chopper ever decided to move faster, he'd show them how much he loved them and stop wasting precious time.

Robert still had the stealth of a spy, but Robin knew the moment he'd come into the room by the steady increase in her mother's heart rate. There was only one person who could make her mother respond immediately no matter what the circumstances. It was like they were two halves of a whole. Patrick called it their Jedi mind trick. Patrick. Her man. She loved Patrick with all her heart, but she still wondered if they'd ever truly be soul mates, if she'd ever be able to understand and sense him like her parents did one another. She wondered if they'd ever truly belong to one another the way that her parents did, because there was no doubting that her father was her mother's Robert and her mother was her father's Anna. It had been twenty years since they'd last lived in Port Charles full time and still to this day you never heard talk of Robert Scorpio or Anna Devane. It was always Robert AND Anna, and of course just as her mother had done for him, he'd come running in her hour of need. It brought her comfort to realize that it was true that they loved each other beyond reason. She should probably warn him about a few things before his inner rescuing hero/caveman emerged and he brought down wrath and hellfire on the hospital staff for not taking care of his Anna. She turned to lead him out of the room before her mother could fully awaken. Against his will she lead him into the conference room.

"Robin, what are you doing?" Robert was feeling his frustration peak, " I need to get back to your mother for once I need to be there for her. I have to be there when she wakes up. I've failed her too many times."

"I know Dad, but I just need to talk to you first. She's very weak and we need to avoid stressing her in any way. Stress could bring on another seizure and increase the risk to her. We need to do our best to keep her seizure free long enough for her to regain her strength so that Patrick can go in surgically to reduce the swelling in her brain. Right now, Patrick is controlling the seizures with a high dose of phenobarbitol, but that may not be enough."

"Are you saying I'm a stressor?"

Attempting to make Robert Scorpio act in a rational manner, had always been her mother's job. To this day when he got out of hand, she managed him with a warning of "I'm going to call Mom," but now her mom was the crisis so it was time for Robin to put on her big girl panties and deal with him herself. She prayed it worked, and that instead of taking it as a recrimination, he truly heard and understood what she was saying, "No. Dad what I'm saying is that you're right. You have failed her, but you need to move past it if you want to be there for her now. You once told me that you loved her beyond reason. You need to know that the feeling is mutual. Please Dad, don't let your guilt over the past interfere in the present. Before you go in there, I need you to bury the past for the moment and live in the here and now. I need you to be here for her now. It's going to be a long, tough battle and there won't be any energy left over for trying to right the wrongs of the past."

"You think I don't know that Robin! Do you think I haven't been torturing myself with regret from the moment I got your call?" Robert had never actually found himself so angry with his daughter as he was in this precise moment. Anna was lying deathly still in a hospital bed in serious condition, and Robin was choosing this moment to call him out.

Robin wanted to rant him. This was always the problem in their communication. They were too similar. She'd lost track of how many times people had told her that as much as she looked like her mother she was a Scorpio through and through. He was being an ass, but then she remembered what her mother had told her during their last "I just can't deal with Dad" talk. When she'd asked her mother for her secret in dealing with her father and not losing her mind was, her mother had replied that the trick to dealing with Robert was to remain rational yourself. She pointed out to Robin that as heated as things got between her and her father, she avoided truly losing it. She pointed out that their fights were more of a tango than a cage fight. More of a chess game than a death match. She strengthened her resolve and lowered her voice, hoping her calm had enough firmness behind it to convey just how serious she was about her message, "Dad, you need to calm down. What I'm saying is that may be if Mom had given up her guilt and dealt with the past instead of letting it torment her, she'd have let Alex take care of this problem ten years ago instead of running herself into the ground trying to make things up to me. I'm saying that I will not under any circumstances let the past continue to kill my mother. I am promising you that we will deal with it, but not here and not now. I am telling you that you have two choices: You can deal with the here and now, and be at Mom's bedside or you can act like a raving lunatic in a futile attempt to assuage your own guilt, and be banned from the room. I called you because I know she needs you to get better, but she needs you to be here not stuck in 1991. The ball is in your court."

Robert took his daughter's words to heart and calmed, "I know sweetheart. I love her and I'm going to be here. Come hell or high water, I will do right by Anna this time."

With those words, Robin watched father walk out of the conference room and straight into her mother's room. She followed him and watched with the comfort of a child who knows not only that she is loved, but that her parents love each other deeply, as her mother made the effort to open her heavy eyes and welcome her father with a caress of his cheek.


	3. Chapter 3

Robert walked past Robin and straight into Anna's room. Watching her lying there in bed was driving him crazy. It always had. It was just fundamentally wrong for Anna to be so still. He'd sat this vigil before, but this time he somehow knew that it was different. He could sense her exhaustion. This one wouldn't be quite as easy as all the others. When the hell had they become old and tired? When had putting up a fight ever been in question? He made it to her bedside and sat down admiring just how beautiful his Anna was, perhaps even more beautiful today than thirty years ago. She'd been no more than a child when they'd met in Sean's office, and now she was a woman. She was the mother of his child, and time and experience had matured her. He remembered telling her that men were like wine, that they got character as they aged, but the truth was it was women that were like wine becoming more exquisite and valuable with each passing year. He watched her struggle to open her eyes, why must everything for her always be a struggle? Those eyes. Those eyes that he could still get lost in. Those eyes that haunted him from the moment he left Italy until the moment he saw her again in the States. Those eyes that gave him solace for the fifteen years they were apart after the Faison debacle. Thirty years, and on any given day Anna Devane still took his breath away. She reached out to caress his cheek and he placed his hand on top of hers hoping she could read his thoughts, knowing she could and begging her without a word to fight the good fight one more time.

"You look like hell old man." The first thing Anna saw was his worried face. Lord help her, Robert Scorpio was scared. She'd caressed his cheek in the hopes he'd understand her message. She certainly was not old, but she was older and she was tired. She by no means wanted to die, but she was at a point in her life where she was not quite sure she wanted to live. There was too much pain. When Leora had died, she'd wanted to go with her girl, but she hadn't. Robin needed her too much and she owed Robin her time and dedication, but now Robin was on her feet with a family of her own. It was time for Anna to rest. The constant fight was exhausting and no longer worth it. What had fighting got her in the past? Robert's hatred. Seven years of not being able to be Robin's mommy. Filomena's death. Losing her baby with Duke. Losing Duke. Losing ten years of Robin's life. Losing Bart. Finding out that in her absence Robin had contracted HIV. Losing Leora. Finding out that Robert was alive and hadn't come for them. Almost losing Robert to cancer and winning that fight just to walk into his hospital room and find that he'd left her once again. She'd come to a realization back then. She'd realized that as deeply as she loved him, the only way they'd ever be able to be together was at the end. The final mission would not come until the curtain call. Loss was the theme of her life and she just felt done. His response was to place his hand on top of hers and she instantly felt the war going on inside of him. He wasn't ready to lose her and he was going to go to hell and back to keep her by his side.

"Not looking too hot yourself, Luv." Robert was not about to let her accept defeat so easily, "Trying to check out on me are you? There's better ways of getting my attention sweetheart, and they're infinitely more fun. I'd imagine Mai-Tai's and hot springs beat hospital beds and IV's any day."

"What can I say? You were always a sucker for a damsel in distress."

"Anna…"

"Robert, every hero has his moment." Her words cut him like a knife. Oh Anna, when did this happen to you? When did it become too much? Why didn't I see it sooner?

"I see, and this is yours? What about Robin? What about Emma? What about me?"

Anna had always found this side of Robert somewhat frustrating. There was black and there was white. There was right and there was wrong. Actually, there was his way and there was wrong, and it would appear that he'd decided that her swan song was wrong. Did he not get it? Or did he not care? The seizures had been coming with frightening frequency and intensity since the first round with Noah and Eli Love leaving her drained when they were over. The headaches were back with nauseating fury. The fevers would knock her off her feet for days leaving her in a daze where she hallucinated. She knew it had hurt Robin that she'd been "working" so much and not visiting nearly enough, but she hadn't wanted to go that to their girl. Robin had been through this too many times, and as her mother she knew just how traumatized Robin had been by all the scares. Fifteen years apart had left Robin convinced that every hang nail was the end and somehow her fault. It was time to end the fear and just let go. Keep Robin safe and then hurt her one last time when she got _the _call to avoid hurting her over and over again for weeks or months or how ever long this ordeal was going to last. She'd let Patrick convince her to come for Valentine's Day and prayed that she'd have a good spell long enough to enjoy her daughter and granddaughter, but it wasn't meant to be. She'd been so happy to see the joy with which her daughter received her and how easily Emma had latched on to her. Just like Robin had been, the child was simply mesmerizing. She'd fought the wave of oncoming pain and the fog that came with getting dragged into the past, but it hadn't been enough. Just as she'd felt her head was literally going to explode, she'd seen the aura and known what was going to happen. She'd wanted to get away from the cottage. She didn't want to scare Robin or her sweet Emma who she'd fought so hard to keep away from the pain and fear that came from being part of a spy's bloodline. She'd felt Robin's gaze stay on her a bit longer than she was comfortable with and known her cover was blown, but faster than she could move she was on the ground. Oh how she hated it. She wasn't sure when she'd stopped losing consciousness, but it made it all the more horrible. The loss of control was terrifying. She was fully aware when her lungs came slamming to a halt. She was fully aware as the convulsions wracked her body. She was fully aware of Emma's screams. She was fully aware as Patrick rolled her to side and held her so that she didn't slam into anything. She was fully aware of his yelling at Robin to call 911. She was fully aware as Robin stared into her eyes with fear and shock. She was fully aware as a neighbor took Emma to her house. She was fully aware as the paramedic started an IV and loaded her into the ambulance. She was fully aware as Robin and Patrick climbed in behind her. She was fully aware of Robin shaking like a leaf, and Patrick stroking her hair and promising her that he was one of his girls and would be okay that he was going to take care of her for her sake, for Robin's, and for Emma's. She was fully aware when she was rushed into an ER cubicle still convulsing and poked and prodded. She was fully aware of just how bad the duration of this seizure was. She was fully aware that there was nothing she could do, and then the drugs kicked in and she'd been blissfully unaware until the moment she felt him.

Now she looked into his eyes, and wondered if it was still enough? She could see the fight in him, and wondered if she'd be able to tap into his strength and find her own fight again. She wondered if he'd ever understand if she couldn't. If he'd understand that it had nothing to do with love. If love were enough, so many things would have been different in their lives starting with Italy. If love were enough, she would have trusted him with the truth. If love her enough, he'd have known that while she'd betrayed him, it had never been her intention to do so.

"I know you're tired," Robert continued, "but it's not time yet. You have to fight the good fight one more time. This isn't your moment. When the time comes it's coming for both of us. It won't be your moment or mine, it will be ours. We've been screwed by life too many times. Star-crossed was coined just for us my love, and it's time to fix that."

"What if we can't?"

"We have to. If not for us, for our daughter and now our granddaughter. She's our chance to get it right. You were born to be a mother. I remember that day in my penthouse when you came to me for help finding Robin and were reunited with her. The image of your face when you heard that little voice say Luv is burned into my mind along with the image of her jumping into your arms with a look on her face that said that now all was right in her world. I still remember how amazed I was by the transformation of the naïve, impetuous, somewhat immature young girl I'd once known. You were cheated, but so was she. She still needs you and so does Emma. That little girl is more Devane than Scorpio or Drake."

Anna took his words to heart, but was still so unsure. She was just so tired and over the constant fight. She was over her child being caught in the middle. She couldn't help but wonder what they'd done to piss off the universe so badly.


	4. Chapter 4

Anna found herself truly frightened for the first time in all of this mess. She had long since accepted that her time was coming. She was actually anxiously awaiting it. The last four years of her illness had been absolute hell and she relished the idea of being released from her torment, but now everything was different. Now Robin and Robert knew what was going on, they were along for the ride and that was horrifying. They were both trying so very hard to take care of her, but she could sense their fear and worry almost as if it were a fourth person in the room. Robin was passed out in bed with her curled up into her like a child gripping on to her with a strength that bordered on painfully tight. It didn't take her mother's intuition to understand that she was desperate for her to not leave them, and Robert was not doing much better. He was asleep in the chair next to the bed leaning over it with his head on her stomach and one arm draped over both her and Robin. The scene gave Anna insight into what they could have had if things had only gone differently for them. She could picture a stormy Saturday morning with a three year old Robin cuddled up between her Mommy and Daddy watching cartoons in bed, and once again regretted that she hadn't gone to Robert when she figured out that the nausea had nothing to do with her injuries from the explosion. She pictured a family movie night with a thirteen year old Robin momentarily forgetting that she was too cool to hang out and cuddle with her parents. She pictured all the moments that could have happened if she and Robert hadn't been so damn stubborn. If only she'd ever had the courage to tell Robert that he was her once in a lifetime twenty years sooner than she did, then Robin and Robert would have a lifetime of happy memories of the three of them together to get them through the coming storm, and she didn't doubt for a moment that they would have been happy memories. Even with the silent but ever present tension between the two of them over the years, she and Robert had managed to be fabulous co-parents and create a world where Robin felt cherished. She could still remember an eight year old Robin asking her, "Will you and Daddy get back together…you know it isn't anything against Uncle Duke?" She could remember clearly the look in her daughter's eyes when she'd assured her that no, that would not be happening. She knew her daughter still longed for them to be together, and it hadn't taken that sweet little, "Why?" almost twenty years after the first question. They'd succeeded in making their daughter feel the strength of their love for each other, and she knew it was one of Robin's greatest comforts, that somehow the knowledge that regardless of their rocky history they still loved each other above all others, cemented her security in the fact that they loved her with a force greater than life. They'd achieved this while constantly self-destructing, so she could not help but dwell on the fact that things would have been truly magical if she and Robert could have but aside their need to prove that they could make it without each other. May be they would have avoided all the pain of the last twenty years, and may be the strain between Robin and Robert would not exist. She would have been there to be there buffer before things had a chance to get ugly. She'd have helped Robin understand that Robert's gruff exterior came from the fear of being hurt, and she'd have helped Robert understand that his little girl was a lot stronger than she looked and all his overprotective, standoffish Papa Bear tactics only served to alienate her. Then she'd have the peace of knowing that they had one another if anything were to happen to her. As it stood, she could sense them both in their respective corners preparing for the fight, both steadfast in the belief that they were right. She worried that if she did not beat this, they would tear each other apart instead of being each other's strength. The more she mulled over it, the worse she felt and the stronger the throbbing in her head grew.

Robin was woken from a deep sleep by the heat radiating off her mother. She lifted her head and thought she saw the answer to the problem, both she and her father were smothering her mother, but then she noticed that her mother was shivering and pale and her concern grew drastically, "Mom, are you okay?"

"I'm fine darling, just a bit of a headache."

Bit of a headache, yeah right. That was mom for there's a sledgehammer going off inside my head. Robin quickly got off of the bed and went to get a pen light to examine her mother's pupils and take her temperature, "Mom, I need you to be honest with me right now. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, how bad is the pain?"

"May be a 3," Anna hoped that Robin bought it, but of course between the Devane and the Scorpio blood coursing through the child's veins there was little hope.

"Mom…"

"Alright, alright, it's more like an 8 or 9. But please don't be alarmed, Robin. It'll pass. There's no need to make a big fuss and wake your father," Anna was interrupted by the beep of the thermometer. She could tell by the look on her daughter's face that she was not happy with the reading, "What's the verdict?"

"103.9, you're burning up Mom. We need to get your temperature down," Robin did not like where this was going. Although she realized from the get go that things were serious, she had the sudden realization of just how serious things truly were regarding her mother's health. They were in a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't. She needed surgery desperately, but things had been festering for far too long, and taking her mother in for major surgery in this condition could easily be a death sentence in and of itself. They could not avoid any setbacks, but at this point Robin dreaded that they had reached the point where it would be nothing but one setback after another, "I'm going to give you some acetaminophen to try to bring down the temperature as well as increase your saline drip to help keep you hydrated, then I'm going to go find Patrick so we can set a definite timeline for surgery. We're also going to need to wake up Dad. We need to have a long talk about our options and come to a decision together."


	5. Chapter 5

Anna's screams could be heard throughout the hall, and it was killing Robert inside to listen to her frantic pleas as he sat next to her, "Robert! Robert! Please…don't go Robert…I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry…It was the only way...I was a fool and I couldn't bear to pay for that with your life…He'd have killed you…I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he had…ROBERT!"

"I'm not leaving you Luv. Never again. It's just the fever sweetheart. I'm here and you're safe. We're together," no matter how many times he tried to reassure her, she was lost to him. Robin had woken him a couple of hours before to tell him that they needed to talk about options and he'd instantly seen how deathly pale Anna was, and how she glistened with a thin, sheen of sweat. She was burning up. It had gone down hill from there, faster than Patrick could make his way to the room, Anna's fever had spiked and her torment had begun. At first her delirium had been focused on her childhood, but for the last half hour he'd listened as she relived the first explosion to separate them and he couldn't take it anymore, "Robin, for God's sake, do something. There has to be something you can give her. She's in hell."

"Dad, I'm doing everything I can. Do you think I like listening to Mom scream like that," Robin replied continuing to wipe her mother's brow with a cool wash clothe and trying desperately to quell her rising anger and frustration, "Mom's snowballing. The pressure in her brain caused the headache, which stressed her body into the fever, and now I'm trying desperately to bring it down before it causes her to start seizing, but there's only so much I can do without causing greater harm. Mom's had a bad reaction to anesthesia including analgesics in the past. When she had the surgery to try to save Leora, she almost died and then had another lesser reaction during the proceeding C-section. I can't just give her anything, and most of the drugs that I know she's not sensitive to are opiate based which poses a risk for a seizure patient."

"So we do nothing…" Robert couldn't accept it. How could they possibly just sit on their hands and watch while Anna suffered?

"No, Dad. We do what we're doing. We continue to talk to her and try our best to soothe her. We continue with the cooling blanket and the cold compresses. We continue with the acetaminophen and the saline drip, and Patrick has added Tramadol to her medications. There's been great success combining it with acetaminophen for pain management without aggravating seizures in epileptic patients, so while Mom isn't epileptic we're holding out hope that the same will hold true in the case of her seizures."

"I'm sorry sweetheart; I don't mean to be difficult. There just has to be something more. She's calling for me. She thinks I've left her again, and I just can't take it."

"Dad, don't forget what she said that day in the Maarkham Islands. You're the only man she's ever allowed to rescue her. She knows you're here and she knows you're moving heaven and earth for her. She knows you love her. I'm going to go talk to Patrick about increasing her dosage of acetaminophen. I'll be right back, you just keep talking to her," Robin kissed her mother on the forehead and walked out of the room trying her best to keep her tears at bay. While she did need to talk to Patrick, more than anything she needed a minute to compose herself. Watching her strong larger than life mother so sick was taking it's toll on her, and she needed to pull it together so that she could continue to do her best to get her mother through this crisis, and hell her father too because as time passed it became more and more obvious to her that if God forbid they lost this battle her father would absolutely lose his mind.

Robert stayed in the room, wiping Anna's brow and holding her hand, willing her his strength, and begging God to let him take her place as he continued to listen to her delirious ramblings, "It hurts Robert…I knew it would…but not like this…I can't do it Robert…I need you…our baby needs you…Oh, Filomena, I don't have one more left…I need Robert…" Robert could only guess by her new cries that she was reliving Robin's birth, yet another shining example of his failure to come through for her. She'd been so confident on that first mission empowered by all the bravado of an eighteen year old girl. She'd been so good at presenting the front that he hadn't realized her true age until the first time they'd made love, and it pained him to think of that young girl that had adored him and so timidly told him, "I wanted…I just wanted it to be wonderful," scared and in pain baring his child without him. In that moment, he decided to change tactics in his attempts to comfort her. If he couldn't bring her to him, he'd go to her. He'd play along with the hallucination and hopefully, even if only for a moment, change history for her, "I know it does sweetheart, but Filomena's right. You do have one more left. You're an incredibly strong woman, and you can do it." He'd talked her through it and felt her calm, she was still incredibly hot and he knew they were still battling the fever, but at the very least her delirium had settled into a calm recounting of her life. If it weren't for the circumstances, he'd almost call it peaceful and he found himself losing himself in the fantasy with her and allowing himself to imagine if even for a second that he hadn't been a self-righteous ass and really had been present for all of these moments. They had just moved on to that fateful day when Anna had shown up at his apartment saying that she was in trouble when Robin returned.

"How is she?"

"Still burning up, but no longer restless."

"Robert, I need your help…," Anna interrupted.

"Robin's here Luv. She's been with me the whole time. Wu brought her to me. She's safe and all three of us are together," Robert soothed as he motioned for Robin to come closer and take Anna's hand.

"You'll take care of her?" Anna insisted.

"Of course, I will darling. We both will. Just like we always…," Robert felt himself pushed out of the way before he could finish the sentence and time simultaneously sped up and slowed down.

"Mom!" Robin yelled as she saw her mother's body begin to tense. She knew what was coming and pushed her father back into the chair by the bed as she quickly paged Patrick and started issuing orders to increase the phenobarbitol and immediately cease the Tramadol.

Things seemed to happen at a break neck speed, yet Robert was watching them occur in slow motion. Robert Scorpio was not a man known for his humility. He'd always been a hero and he knew it, but every hero had his moment. He'd thought that once before that he had reached it as he lay helpless in a hospital bed with Anna tending to his every need as if he were a child, and heard it thrown back at him not twenty four hours before by Anna herself, but it was not until this precise moment that he fully understood the concept. They'd both been wrong. Every hero must face the moment in which he realizes that at the end of the day he is indeed human, and nothing made it clearer to him than watching the love of his life convulsing on a bed and not being able to do a damn thing about it. It was not a hero, but a husband and a lover that stood there and watched Anna's body still as she flatlined. It was not a god, but a father that held Robin back as she strained to get back to her mother yelling "Mommy, please!" while Patrick shocked Anna causing her body to jolt violently off the bed. It was a mere man that wept with relief and gratitude when on the third attempt the single flat line on the heart monitor started going up and down again signaling that Anna's heart was once again beating at a nice, steady rhythm. He forced himself to push his feelings down and face Patrick, "How is she? Is she alright now?"

"Far from it. It's a miracle we were able to get her back, and she's barely holding on. We really are at an impasse," Patrick answered with genuine sadness in his heart, "She was already weak from the first prolonged seizure and now after this event she's even weaker. She won't survive surgery if I take her into the OR in this condition, but without surgery I don't think she'll make it another 72 hours. It's just too much trauma, and the EEG is still showing seizure activity in her brain."

"No," Robin beat Robert to the punch, "we are not giving up. Don't you dare give up on her Patrick. Tell us what to do, and we'll do it, but come up with a plan of action."

"Ok then," Patrick sighed, "our best bet right now will be to place her in a medically induced coma to hopefully stop the seizure activity and then operate tomorrow once her body has had a chance to rest. I do need both of you to understand though, that the odds are not in our favor. She's on a ventilator, and has a history of adverse reactions to anesthesia. It's a complex surgery in the best of cases, but in her case there's the added pressure of the clock. Every minute she's under is a minute the anesthesia could cause her to arrest. It is possible that we're going to get into the OR and lose her on the table, so I suggest that you spend this time with her telling her anything that you need for her to know, and be prepared to let her go. She's putting up a hell of a fight for all of us, but she's in pain and it's not an easy fight."

"My mom isn't a quitter. She's never quit on us, so we're not quitting on her. She doesn't need anyone doubting her, so either put on your game face or I'll find another surgeon," Robin responded giving Patrick a look that dared him to defy her and walking back into her mother's room.

Robert followed her sensing that her response was more of the bravado that she'd inherited from Anna than anything else. That bravado mixed with the tendency to brood that she'd gotten from him was a recipe for disaster, but he didn't now how to diffuse the situation so he just sat there watching her lie in bed with her mother whispering into her ear. Those two had always been thick as thieves. May be because unlike him, Anna always knew just how to handle their daughter. She knew when to touch and when to talk and what to say when she did, while he usually ended up creating a Scorpio vs. Scorpio clash of the titans even when his only intention was to comfort his daughter. They were a loving family, but somehow he'd always felt that Anna and Robin were a unit and somehow he was just lucky enough to complete the picture. Although if he was honest with himself, it was his fault. The tendency to brood wasn't the only thing Robin had gotten from him. Her fear that good things would be taken away from her came from him too. He'd never truly let himself bond with his daughter because his love for her was so intense that he was sure he was bound to lose her and losing her would surely kill him. He'd kept her at arms length to protect his own heart, and now he was paying the price. How he wished he knew what Robin was saying, that for a moment she could trust him and let him in like he should have let her in so long ago. They were facing their greatest fear and somehow he knew they only way they'd make it to the other side was if stuck together.


	6. Chapter 6

Robin smoothed back her mother's hair as she talked to her. They said that patients in a coma could hear those around them, and she wanted to make sure that if that was the case, her mother heard her voice and knew she was there with her. She wanted to make sure her mother knew she still needed her, so there was no option but to fight as hard as she could for her life, "Mommy, I still need you. I'm not going to let you give up on me. Do you remember the strength you lent me when I was sick after Emma? Take it back and as much more as you need. Just keep fighting." Although she knew she wouldn't be getting a response, and that the coma was her mother's best chance for survival, the silence she got in return was still devastating. Anna Devane was a superhero. She was not supposed to be taken down by anything much less be lying in a hospital bed looking so frail.

From the time she could remember her mother had always protected her from anything and everything. She clearly remembered the conversation Luv had with the mother of the playground bully after the third time she'd come home crying, that day Robin had decided that it was best to always remain on Luv's goodside. There was nothing quite like having your own personal hero always on call to save the day, but more than anything what had always made her mother special to her was her tenderness where she was concerned. She clearly remembered being knocked over the first time she roller-skated on the docks. "Luv" could have gone after the bad guy, but instead she'd lifted her up into her arms and cradled her. She remembered her mother telling her countless bed time stories to comfort her after bad dreams. She remembered the safety of her mother's arms, even if at the time she hadn't known it, when she found her at "Robbie's," and after she found out about "Luv" was really Mommy, she remembered the comfort of those same arms when she dove into them after her mother's miscarriage. Even when her mother was taken captive by Grant Putnam, it was the familiar scent and strength of her embrace in the hospital after her rescue that had made the biggest impression on Robin, even more so than the strength with which she attempted to fight Putnam off to give her time to run. Those were the moments that made the day Sean tried to convince her that her parents were dead so difficult. The idea that her parents, and especially her mother, would never be there to make things all better was unfathomable.

She imagined her father was probably having similar issues right now. Robert's job in the family had always been the no-nonsense protector. It had been the beginning of their rift. She loved her father immensely from the moment she met him. Finding out he was her father had been one of the happiest moments of her childhood, but he was not a booboo kisser. She remembered knowing the moment he took her into his arms after the Putnam nightmare that she was safe, but also the way he immediately started pushing her for answers. Robert Scorpio was not a man stuck on details. She was safe. He'd protect her. She knew that. Her mother wasn't safe. He had to find her. There'd be time for cuddles later. It wasn't until she was a grown woman that she understood that he left the cuddles to her mother because the idea of showing his affection made him feel vulnerable and that terrified him. It had taken falling in love with Patrick and seeing how he guarded his heart so closely because of his relationship with his own father and losing his mother, that Robin came to understand the scars on her father's heart from losing his parents and being so angry at Mac for so many years. She understood know and she valued how hard he tried to be different, but there were still times when it infuriated her like when he walked out on her mother before going to Switzerland. The look on her mother's face when she walked into the room was entirely too familiar. It was so familiar, she could almost see it on her mother's face thirty years prior as her father walked away after finding out about her involvement with the DVX.

There were times when Robin wondered what her mother was like before she had her. It was hard to imagine her mother as an eighteen year old superspy prodigy. If having Emma at thirty, with a stable career and, Patrick scared her so badly, she couldn't even begin to comprehend how terrified her mother had been at eighteen, with her "career" up in smoke, and her father no where to be found. A baby most definitely had not been in her mother's plans, but she'd risen to the occasion brilliantly. May be it had been the trauma that bonded them so tightly. It was likely the start of her mother's need to make things up to her. Robin was ashamed of the fact that at times she'd pulled the "you owe me" card to manipulate things to her advantage regardless of how badly she knew it hurt her mother. She'd never forget the look on her mother's face when she'd held her gun out to her and said, almost daring her, "I hope it's worth it." However, she wasn't above using it again. If push came to shove, she'd guilt her mother through this crisis. It was her turn to take care of her mother, and she'd use whatever tools she had to in order to get the job done. 


	7. Chapter 7

"Anna, Luv? Robin says you can hear me so I'm going to try to get it all out there. You know I'm not very good at all of this emotional stuff so bare with me," Robert took a deep breath and squeezed Anna's hand a little tighter bracing himself for an uncomfortable conversation. "First of all, I need you to know that I still love you. I never stopped, and I never will. I need you to know that I'm not just saying this because you're sick, and that unlike when I told you I loved you when I was sick, this time I'm going to keep telling you and showing you when you get out of here. You have to know that while I loved Holly, she was never you. Losing you was just so painful that I had to push down those feelings, and when you came back, the only thing I could think to do was run. So I went to Australia, but I hope you know my heart stayed with you and Robin. I trusted Lavery to watch out for you, but please know that it killed me inside to imagine him in _my_ place. The thought of him coming home to Robin and to you was physically painful, but I'm back now Luv. I'm here for you and for Robin. I can't promise you it's always going to be smooth sailing, but I swear to you no matter how hard things may get, I'm not going anywhere. This time I'm doing right by you and our little girl. I also want you to know how happy I am that you're her mother. If I was only going to be blessed with one child, I'm thankful that out of all the women I've had in my life, it was you who gave her to me. Now it's time for you to come back to us darling. Wherever you are, I'm with you. When Patrick takes you into to surgery, you draw on my strength to hold you through, and when it's all over you follow my voice back to us," with that said Robert allowed himself to rest his hand never leaving Anna's and his eyes never leaving her and Robin who was once again fast asleep.

This time was going to be different. He'd allowed anger and hurt to make him violate the most sacred of promises. It was a mistake he would not make twice.


	8. Chapter 8

Blaring alarms. Defibrillators once again. Anna's body jolting off the bed. A prayer from him for the assault on her body to just stop. The miracle of a sinus rhythm. A call for an operating room punctuated with a STAT! A plea from Robin that her mother wasn't strong enough that it was too soon. A rushed assurance from Patrick that her ICP was rising too quickly and there was no time left. A grim faced Patrick walking out of the OR. His shoulders slumping as he reached them. An unwanted answer to that earlier prayer. A series of events that led Robert Scorpio to where he was right now. On one side of Anna's bed with Robin on the other, both of them holding Anna's hands trying their damnedest to hold it together as they tried to say good-bye. Neither one of them wanted to believe Patrick when he told them that he'd done all he could do, but that Anna would not make it through the night. Robert found it interesting how everyone had their own coping mechanism. Patrick had snuck off to hold Emma, while Robin has cycled in between clutching her mother's hand begging, pleading, and cajoling and researching, determined to come up with some eleventh hour miracle; he chuckled to himself. Anna swore Robin had married him, but the truth was she'd married her. It was a scenario that had played out enough times, Anna clutching Robin close while he bulldozed through the problem. The only thing more amusing was his own reaction. There was no bulldozing to be done today. All he could do was watch the clock with the sinking realization that every minute passing was a minute less Anna had left and plead for time to stop.

The idea of losing Anna was driving him to the brink of insanity. There had been other times, but he'd known that she was okay. After the explosion on the docks, he'd left her in the hospital. Injured, but alive and on her way to a full recovery, and after the tanker he'd known that she was again injured, but okay in the hands of Bart. The only other time he'd come close to feeling this helpless was during the Putnam affair, but even then there had been something for him to do to help her, to save her. He had searched. He'd held her in his arms as she collapsed. She'd gotten her to GH, well he and Lavery, but that was a point his possessive nature preferred to gloss over. She was his Anna, his and only his, and now his Anna was preparing to leave him, and the simple truth was he didn't know who he was without her. If Patrick was right, and she left him before morning, he wanted to go with her. He needed to go with her to know that she was okay just as he'd done so many times in the past. He needed to go with her to tell her how he felt once and for all and to know that she'd heard him. Robin swore that patients in a coma could hear those around him, but he didn't know that she was right about that fact. He vividly recalled his own coma, and while the people he loved had been with him, they'd been more a figment of, as Anna had put it, his psyche than an actual presence. What if she hadn't heard him earlier? What if she died without knowing how much he loved her and how sorry he was for everything? Their's was an epic love story, and it couldn't end like this, it was just wrong.

He prayed she'd wake up. He prayed that if this really was good-bye, it would at least be a proper one. The universe owed her that much. Anna may have quite a bit of gray in her sense of morality, but at the end of the day no matter how wrong her actions they were always done with the intention of helping someone, and she had. Anna had helped so many people over the years both in her "superspy" life and in her everyday friend, lover, sister, mother, grandmother role that he was certain her karmic bank account had to be full. He was well aware his was in the red, but that was his account, she shouldn't pay his debts and neither should their child.

Robin was the one thing he'd done right in life, and the amount of pain she was in right now was more than he could bare, although true to form he was allowing his own pain to overshadow hers. She was a testament to the impact Anna had in his life. Finding out that he was a father gave him a reason to fight even harder for all that was good. It wasn't just about saving the world anymore, now it was about creating a better world for his little girl. Lord, he hoped she could see that and understand all he'd wanted to do for over the years, but how could she without their translator. Robert didn't know who to plead to anymore: God, fate, who ever would listen, so he turned to his one constant and whispered in her ear, "Luv, the chips are down. I need you and your stubbornness to come through for me one more time and prove Patty Cake wrong. I'm not ready for this, come back."


	9. Chapter 9

"Robin, nothing has changed," Anna wasn't kidding when she said brick wall, if Patrick didn't know that it was sheer sadness and desperation fueling her stubbornness, he'd be losing his mind right now trying to get through to her. "She stroked on the table, Robin. She's been weaned off the propofol and she's hasn't regained consciousness. She's still in a coma, and all attempts to wean her off the vent have failed, her sats tank the moment we try. We've had this conversation with families before…"

"Her fever hasn't gone up," Robin interrupted.

"But it hasn't gone down."

"She made it through the night, Patrick. You said she wouldn't and she did, so what do we do next," Robin insisted, "My Mom, isn't your typical patient, and she proved it last night, so I'll ask you again, what do we do now?"

"We say good-bye, Robin. It's time to let go," and with that she walked away leaving him in the hall wondering how on Earth to help her. Patrick didn't know how to make her understand that even her Mom was human at the end of the day, and she'd just gone through too much to come back this time. He wondered how she would handle it if it came time to make critical decisions. Anna may not go on her own, and he didn't know if Robin would be able to handle turning off the respirator. If only he could ask Anna how to comfort Robin. She needed help, and the only person who could help her was lying in an ICU bed unconscious.

Robin walked back into her mother's room and her father in exactly the same position she'd left him in when she'd gone to confront Patrick. He was destroyed on the inside. It was obvious to her that his very survival depended on her mother making it, and the thought terrified her to no end. She'd never seen him respond to anything like he was responding to this crisis. Robert Scorpio was a man of action, give him a problem and he gave you twenty possible solutions and started barreling through them one at a time, but this time, it was like he was in his own personal coma. Awake, but lost to the world.

"What did Pattycake say?"

She hated to tell him, especially when in her heart of hearts she felt Patrick was wrong, but her father deserved the truth, "He says the prognosis hasn't changed."

Robert turned to Anna, "I never did like that boy, Luv. He doesn't know you does he, you've had faith in him and his relationship with our little girl from the beginning and now he's ready to throw in the towel." Her lack of a clever retort seemed to break what tenuous control he had on his emotions, and Robin watched as he buried his head in her mother's chest and sobbed. For the first time since finding out he was alive, Robin found herself feeling true compassion and empathy for her father. They were in the same boat, and for once he wasn't playing Mr. Macho Tough Guy.

"Daddy, we'll make it through this," she soothed, "I don't know how, but we will, all three of us." She gently rubbed his back wishing for a moment that she had a bit more Devane in her and a little less Scorpio, and knew to comfort him. Perhaps this was how he felt every time the roles had been reversed? Eventually his sobs subsided, most likely from sheer exhaustion and she covered him with a blanket as he fell asleep his hand still clutching her mother's hand, his lover's hand, she mentally corrected herself. It was clearer to her than ever that her mother belonged to him as well, in a completely different role, but a role no less significant. More lessons in empathy she supposed, she made a mental note and a bargain to God that if her mother made it out of this alive, she'd stop competing with him for her affection and they'd go back to being a united family. Then she turned to her mother.

"Mom, I know you can hear me. I still mean what I told you before your surgery. You have to pull through this, take back the strength you gave me and how ever much more you need, but I also want you to know that if this really is more than you can bare, Dad and I will be okay. I promise you, Mommy, I'll take care of him for you. I want you to know too, how much I appreciate the kind of mother you've been to me. You always put me first. I know that the move to Port Charles must have been hard for you, but you did it anyway for me. You stopped being a fence, and came here and settled down to give me a stable life, and I appreciate it. You gave me the freedom and the strength to chase my dreams. I could do anything because I knew that no matter what I had a safe place to fall. Doctor, dancer, hell – trapeze artist or clown, as long as I was happy and giving it my all, I knew you'd have my back. I need for you to know that, Mom. When they told me you and Dad were dead, it was my biggest regret. I was such a brat that last year. I was so worried that you had died thinking I didn't love you or appreciate you. I did. I always did. I think it's one of the reason's I was brattier with you than with Dad. I knew, without a doubt, you would always love me no matter what I did or said to you. Hey it even held true as an adult, I trust your love more than Patrick's. Like I told him, I think that's why I had an easier time understanding your initial reaction to Emma than his, even though they were similar. I knew in my heart of hearts, that you're reaction was in no way a reflection on how you felt about me or about her. I knew you loved me more than life itself, I knew that love would encompass my child as well. I pray I can give her that same security. Sometimes, Mom, I hear myself talking to her, and I hear Dad. I know I love her, but I also know what it's like to be on her side, and I worry that we're going to relive the same pattern he and I have followed. It's taken me almost thirty-four years to understand him, and truth is if it weren't for the fact that we're both terrified of losing you, I probably wouldn't be feeling this way toward him. He's scared and he's hurt and he doesn't mean to be an ass, and I finally get it because I'm scared and I'm hurt and I don't mean to be a bitch. You and Patrick deserve medals for putting up with us Mom. I'm rambling. I guess I just wanted to say thank you and I love you no matter what, and no matter where you are I'll still love you. It's okay if it's just too hard, but please Mommy make sure you give it all you have before you give in. All you have and all I have and all Daddy has, because we need you."

With the weights of regret and resentment of her chest, Robin was able to settle in for yet one more night in her mother's hospital bed. Tonight, however, was different. Tonight, she noticed there was more than enough room for all three Scorpios in the bed, and tonight she felt proud and honored to be a Scorpio.


	10. Chapter 10

Robert looked out the window of Anna's ICU as Robin gave Emma a reassuring hug and sent her on with Aunt Bobbie. Once again, it became clear to him just how much the girl was his child. Emma had just been brought in to say good-bye to her "Lub," how he wished he could keep her at this age of innocence where Luv was Lub and Valentine's were Valemtimes and there was no loss yet in her world, and yet Robin was certain she'd be alright. There were more pressing matters. How he hoped for both of their sakes that Robin realized sooner than he had that the matters of children are always more pressing than they seem. The little girl was still a baby at the end of the day, and she was going to need her Mommy to make this better for her. He couldn't watch his daughter repeat his same mistakes and instead turned to Anna, "Luv, you're leaving behind one hell of a challenge for us Scorpios to deal with here. How on Earth are Robin and I going to bring out our softer side without you? How are we going to nurture Emma without you? Hell, forget about her feelings. How on Earth are we going to manage that Devane wild streak that runs through the child? That glint in her eye is all you, sweetheart, all you. You know I'll never forget the first time I laid eyes on you. I knew right then you were trouble. The way you got me to give you my chair, the way you laughed when I told you I was the boss. You had me where you wanted me from the first second and you knew it…"

"Any change?" Robin asked as she walked in, hoping against hope that the answer would be anything but what she knew it would be. 

"Fever broke, but other than that no change. How's Emma?"

"Scared and confused, but she's too young to really get the magnitude of what's going on."

"She get's more than you think, Luv. Don't make the same mistakes I did. She needs your reassurance now more than ever."

"I know that Dad," Robin responded with the beginnings of annoyance in her voice, "but I know her, and she'll be fine. There'll be time when all is said and done to put things right for her. Mom doesn't have time on her side. This is where I need to be right now."

"We always think we have time, until we don't. You know your child, but don't find yourself thirty years from now looking at her as an adult and realizing just how many times you should have made a different choice. Just how many times you thought she was fine when she wasn't," Robert returned with a sincerity and genuine remorse that somehow managed to diffuse Robin's anger for the moment, although not her resolve. 

"Let's just drop it for now Daddy, please," Robin answered much more gently than before, "What were you telling Mom right now?"

"Oh, I was just telling her how Emma has me wrapped around her little finger. It's a trick she inherited from your Mom. I was reminding her how she's called the shots from the moment I laid eyes on her. You should have seen her Robin. She was so impossibly young, but she was so sure of herself, or at least she was one hell of an actress. I didn't realize how young she was until our first time together. All of the sudden, Miss Thing became so unsure of herself. She actually needed me to assure her…"

Robin couldn't help but cringe. It was a reflex. She didn't know if she'd ever be grown up enough to deal with the fact that her parent's had a sex life. Perhaps, it was a consequence of "losing" them at thirteen. She'd been perpetually stuck in teenager mode when it came to them.

"…sorry, Luv," Robert found himself missing Anna more than ever in this moment. How he wished she was awake to banter with him and torture their daughter. He had to get back on track, back to happy memories, "I'll never forget how infuriating I found her. She just had this 'devil may care' confidence that clashed with my need to take the job seriously, not to mention the ability to distract me. I remember holding her in my arms as we danced in front of a group of DVX men and finding that I'd forgotten we were on a mission. It was only a split second, but no other woman had managed to get between me and the job like that, do you remember Anna? Do you remember how we danced? How somehow without either one of us noticing we stop playing a role and fell in love for real? Do you remember that first kiss? Or the moment we washed up on the beach in Italy? Do you remember our wedding day, Luv, do you? You were so beautiful. It was the beginning of you taking my breath away." 

Robin loved hearing about how her parents had begun. She could remember asking Luv to tell her the stories time and time again before she knew that they were her parents, and she remembered asking her grandmother to continue telling her the stories she knew afterwards because Luv never seemed to want to go there after her first visit to Port Charles, much less after they moved. Robin could tell that remembering pained Anna, and hadn't pushed it. For some reason, she'd never thought to ask her father about that time other than some brief questions when they'd stayed in the same hotel her parents had honeymooned in. No time like the present, "So who fell first, Dad?"

"I did or at least I realized it first. Your mother has always been my equal as a spy if not my superior, and it's what's balanced us out, but for the longest time, she doubted herself as a woman. I think in part it was the age difference, and in other parts the fact that I could be so damn difficult. You know from personal experience that I don't do warm and mushy well, and your mother was so young that she really needed a bit of warmth and mushiness to believe in us, in herself, in the fact that a man could really truly love her. Then the fiasco with the DVX occurred, and I walked away. It took her quite a while to get her bearings after that; as a matter of fact, I don't think she really put herself back together when it came to me until she finally up the courage to call me out one Valentine's day."

At that point, Robin stopped him, "'91?"

"Yup, '91."

"What happened?"

"You don't want to know Luv," Robert couldn't help but chuckle, "You don' want to know."

Knowing her parents like she did, that chuckle told Robin all she need to know and would like to erase from her head, so she opted to drop it.

"Daddy, how are we going to get through this?"

"I don't know sweetheart. All I know is that your mother has been my whole world for over thirty years. She's the one person who was always willing to look past my shortcomings and love me for who I was. She's my true north, and I don't know how I'm going to get through a single day without her. I love you Robin, and I love Emma, but I don't know if I can do this, and I need you to know that no matter what happens in the future your mother and I have shared a one in a million kind of love, and the only person we've loved more is you."

"I know that Daddy, and I need you to know that she really has loved you and I know she still does, as much as she loved Uncle Duke, I know that a huge piece of her heart was still yours, she was just too scared to go for it. So she found a "nice" guy to love and to love her in return. You need to know that it was always you, and she wouldn't want to see you like this right now."

"There's just so much unsaid, Robin."

"Then tell her."

Robert couldn't hold back the sobs that wracked his body as he got up on the bed and took Anna in his arms, "I forgive you, baby. I forgave you the moment I saw you in Port Charles. I was just too damn proud to admit it. I'm so sorry, Luv. I'm so sorry…I'm sorry…"

"Fff….or….ggg…ive…" Robert was so caught up in his grief that he almost missed it, but Robin did not. She quickly placed a hand on her father's shoulder drawing his attention downward. Staring up at Robert were the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen.

"Anna?"

"Pa…tty…ca…ke…wro…ng…"

"He sure as hell was, Luv."

Later that night, Patrick Drake watched his family including his daughter sleep peacefully for the first time since this ordeal had started. Anna had a rough road ahead of her. She would need intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy along with a drastic change in lifestyle, but she would pull through, thankfully they all would.

_The End_


End file.
